Jean Pohl is a born club woman. Even when she was working part time for San Diego City schools in special education and raising her own children, the San Carlos resident could be counted on to lend her organizational skills and energy to a worthy cause.

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To learn more about the San Diego Center for Children and the Iris Auxiliary, visit centerforchildren.org.

“I was always doing volunteer work,” Pohl, 63, said. “My kids were exposed to that. When my daughter was little, instead of playing with dolls, she played ‘club’ or ‘meeting.’ It’s all she knew.”

It was no surprise when, 31 years ago, Pohl formed the Iris Auxiliary for the San Diego Center for Children. After hearing a representative from the center speak at her Del Cerro Jr. Women’s Club meeting, Pohl found herself uttering what has become a signature line of hers.

“I said, ‘What can we do for you?’ ” Pohl recalled. “The center was 92 years old then and had never had a women’s auxiliary.”

Within a few months, Pohl and a handful of other women were dedicating their efforts to the center in Kearny Mesa, home to 75 children who have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. Funds raised by the auxiliary go exclusively toward kids’ activities, including holiday parties and decorations, art and music programs, field trips, a veggie and flower garden, and most recently, a playground.

The auxiliary’s first moneymaker in 1979 was a box dinner at the Point Loma home of one of the members. Each lady made a dinner, placed it in boxes they had decorated and auctioned off the meals.

“We raised $350 that night,” Pohl said. “We used that as seed money to launch a membership drive.”

The group grew but, over the years, has never exceeded 25 members. Pohl said more community support is always needed.

However, even without extra helping hands, this formidable band of volunteers gets the job done. They excel at fundraising and constantly brainstorm ways to bring in donations.

Auctions of all descriptions — silent, live, art, goods and services — have brought in some respectable cash. So have items the women have made for craft fairs around town.

Also successful were a wine seminar, luncheon fashion shows and the Rent-A-Santa program in which members of the Bachelor Club of San Diego dressed up as St. Nick and made appearances at children’s holiday parties. For the past two years, the auxiliary has employed “Cash for Kids,” distributing an army of plastic pink piggy banks throughout the community with the request that once the bank is full, an auxiliary member can come collect it.

The pigs have been prosperous, raising thousands of dollars, much of which has gone to defray the cost of the new playground. What fell flat monetarily was a Casino Night held a few years back on St. Patrick’s Day.

“We keep thinking of things,” Pohl said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s try this and if it doesn’t work, we will move on to something else.’ ”